Radioactive
by Jasmine Lita Everdeen
Summary: The time for lies is over. Marie has been though a lot. Newt, her other half, has the Flare and is going crazy. She is Immune. WICKED is determined to get a cure for the Flare, even if it tortures Munies. They want to give the survivor's memories back, but Marie knows WICKED can't be trusted. Will she make the right choice and come out alive? Or will her world crash and burn?
1. Chapter 1

**Radioactive**

**Chapter 1**

* * *

In the end, it was my thoughts that started to drive me mad.

I kept on thinking about Newt, Thomas, Harriet, Sonya, Teresa, Brenda, Jorge, Aris and Minho. Especially Newt. I was told that Thomas was a dangerous Crank past the Gone, but he sure didn't act like it. He didn't want to randomly chew our toes off or tear his hair out and eat it. His eyes weren't crazed like so many of the other Cranks.

That's how I knew that Brenda wasn't actually a Crank. Her eyes were still intelligent, not clouded. Jorge's eyes were the same. Rat Man had told us that we had the Flare, but I had a hard time believing it. None of us showed the signs. I certainly didn't want to massacre small animals and sacrifice their bodies to the gods, if they even existed. After all of the things that I went though, I don't think they do.

I was waiting for the door to open. I thought that the sticks from WICKED couldn't be this cruel, no way. I guess I still thought that WICKED was good, after hearing that for months from Teresa. So I waited, sleeping and chalking up the days on the wall with a piece of rock that I found. 26 days and counting.

Then the door finally, _finally_, opened.

For a moment, I just sat there in shock. A guard stepped in, gesturing me to step out. My legs wobbled so hard that I couldn't first stand up, I was so shocked and kinda relieved. But when I managed to get out of the room without falling over, the guard set off. I followed him/her, thinking that I wasn't important enough to send someone that could actually _speak_ to get me.

We walked for a few minutes until we came into a white door, blending in with the beige walls. Jeez, whoever designed the decor was seriously unoriginal.

"You have thirty minutes to shower and change," the guard told me. "Then you will go to meet the other subjects."

Huh, so the guard can talk. I nodded at he/she (although I suspected it was a woman) and went inside. It was a change room, complete with showers and a bench with folded clothes. I barely looked around the room and hopped into a shower, getting to work to get the old Marie back.

After I finished the 5 five minute showers, I flipped through the clothes and slipped them on. A pale blue shirt, clean underclothes, black tracksuit pants, soft socks and shoes that were similar to the ones that the other Sprinters and me wore for the Maze. Just the mention of that confusing place set off alarm bells in my head.

I headed out and saw the guard outside the door in the same position as thirty minutes ago. Did she seriously stand there for 30 minutes just so for me to get Marie again? That's extreme.

The guard set off again. I braided my hair as we walked, passing many doors on our journey to... somewhere. That's all I knew. Somewhere with Thomas, Harriet, Sonya, Brenda, Jorge, Aris, Minho, Teresa. And Newt.

My chest lurched as I realized that I had been missing him so bad. What am I going to say to him after 26 days of being apart? He might've got to his senses and decided that he will have nothing to do with a girl as messed up as me. My heart clenched at the thought of that, and I hoped so hard that didn't happen.

The guard stopped again in front of a blue door. Dark blue, to be exact. I swear that I stopped breathing. She opened the door and pushed me inside.

The Gladers and the Clearers are standing around, talking and laughing. I felt so out of place, so alien. Sonya, Harriet, they were all alive! I feared the worst for them, since they disobeyed Teresa and tried to free Thomas.

Sonya caught sight of me and grinned. "Well, I'll be stuck-upped! It's Marie! I thought you stuck yourself up and died, you stick!"

I smiled weakly at her. "Good to see you haven't turned into a pile of klink, Sonya. You too, Harriet," I added, turning to face the dark-skinned girl.

She came over and hugged me tightly. Harriet had always felt that I was her little sister, even though I am only one month younger than her, since I was younger when I came to the Clearing with her. The rest of the Clearers came over and hugged me, and we basically had one big reunion as the Clearers. All together at last.

Then the door opened again and Thomas came in. One voice cut clearly through the din. "Well, I've been shucked and gone to heaven. It's Thomas!"

Sonya glowered at Minho and I knew that she would beat him up later for practically copying her mini-speech from when I appeared. I couldn't see clearly through all of the girls surrounding me, but I guessed that the Gladers were all having a happy man-hug, cheering and doing whatever they do.

"I bet you sobbed over not being able to see your great saviour every night, Mar," Sonya teased, ruffling my hair affectionately.

"Yeah, I did," I snorted. "Missed you so much I tried to punch my way through the door." I showed her my fists.

There was a great roar of laughter from the Clearers. I actually had tried to beat down the door but then a rat-faced man had came in and told me that if I didn't stop, it would be worse for me. I had believed him and stopped.

"Still got a thing for Newt?" Another Clearer teased.

My heart stopped. I forgot about Newt when I saw the Clearers. I was about to respond when the rat-faced man came in, clapping his hands. "Everybody take a seat. We've got a few things to cover before we remove the Swipe."

Wait, _what_? Remove the thing blocking our memories? The room stilled and Rat Man stepped up onto the stage and said with the same forced, pinched smile as before: "That's right, ladies and gents. You're about to get all of your memories back. Every last one of them."

Oh my god. He can't be serious. Black dots appeared in my vision. Harriet gripped my shoulders, anchoring me to the present. I can't afford to black out. But black out I did.

I woke up to Harriet shaking me and slapping my face, whispering my name over and over again. Groaning, I got up and slapped her hands away.

"I'm fine, Harriet," I said, getting back up.

Everyone was staring at me after my little episode. Rat Man was looking but then cleared his throat and carried on speaking.

"What did I miss?" I whispered to Sonya.

"We all got into a big argument involving Thomas and Teresa, but there's something else," She whispered back.

"Thanks,"

"What're you talking about?" I heard Harriet ask.

Rat Man put his hands behind his back and his face turned grave. My stomach swirled.

"Some of you are immune to the Flare. But... some of you aren't. I'm going to go through the list – please do your best to take it calmly."

This time I did stop breathing. All I could think was: _Not me. Not Newt. Not me. Not Newt. Not Newt. Not me. Not Newt._

"For an experiment to provide accurate results," Rat Man explained, "one needs a control group. WE did your best to keep the virus from you as long as we could. But it's airborne and highly contagious."

He paused, taking in everyone's gazes.

"Just bloody get on with it," Newt said. "We all figured we had the buggin' disease anyway. You're not breaking our hearts."

_It's going to break mine. Please, not me. Not Newt. Not me, not Newt. Please, please, please..._

"Yeah, cut the drama and tell us already," Sonya added.

Sometimes I really love her. I thought I would die if I waited any longer. _Not me. Not Newt. Not me. Not Newt. If there is any God out there, please spare Newt. Please, please, please. I'm begging you. Let me have it, just not Newt. Please!_

Rat Man cleared his throat. "Okay, then. Most of you are immune and have helped us gather invaluable data. Only three of you are considered Candidates now, but we'll go into that later. Let's get to the list. The following people are _not_ immune."

_Not Newt. Not Newt. Not Newt. Not Newt. Not Newt. Not Newt. Not Newt. Not Newt. Not Newt. Not Newt. Please, PLEASE, NOT NEWT!_

"Newt..."

"NO!" That word was ripped from my throat before I even realized I said it. My body trembled, tears spilling down my face. Harriet hugged me from behind, but I tore away from her and ran over to Newt, covering the distance between us in a second.

My mind was in shock. How could this happen? This was not happening. Please let this be a dream, and I would wake up in the white room again, marking another day on the wall. I flung myself into Newt's arms, holding onto him so tightly that I might've broken a few ribs, but I didn't care. I sobbed into Newt's chest, not believing that the person who held me together was falling apart. _The Glue._ That's what was written on his tattoo. My own tattoo said _The Pieces_. I had no idea what that meant until I met my Glue, the one that held me together through everything. Newt couldn't turn into a Crank. No. That wasn't possible. No way would my amazing, sarcastic, funny, perfect Newt turn into one of those raging savages that were there in the Scorch. Does not compute.

"Marie, calm down. It's okay," I heard Newt whisper in my ear, hugging me as tightly as I was holding onto him. "It's going to be alright."

I shook my head. He rested his chin on my head and said: "Tommy, slim yourself."

Slim yourself? _Slim yourself_? He's going to die and he's telling Thomas to _slim himself_?

"Slim myself?" Thomas said, obviously shocked and resentful. "That old shank just said you're not immune to the Flare. How can you-"

My thoughts exactly.

"I'm not worried about the bloody Flare, man. I never thought I'd still be alive at this buggin' point – and living hasn't exactly been so great anyway." He said, then quietly in my ear: "'cept you."

I cried harder.

"If you're cool with slowly going crazy and wanting to eat small children, then I guess we won't cry for you." Like I was right now.

"Good that," Newt responded, his hand stroking my hair.

I remembered a time when I was completely happy. It was in the Scorch, horrible place I know, under a blanket at night. Me and Newt were curled together, waiting for Thomas to get back from wherever WICKED took him to fix up his shoulder.

"_Do you know how I got my limp?" He asked me._

"_No." _

"_Well, I was in the Maze. I went halfway up a wall and jumped off. I didn't want to live any longer, not in the Maze. I wanted to go to a better place." _

_I was horrified. I took one of his hands in mine and squeezed it. His blue eyes travelled up from our hands to my face. He smiled and squeezed back._

"_Of course, I wouldn't have done that if I knew that you would be here." _

_I laughed quietly, moving closer and wrapping my arms around him. He hesitated, but then put his arms around my waist. "Thanks for being here, Marie." _

"_No," I said, tipping my head back to look into his eyes. "Thank you, Newt. I think I would've been long gone if you weren't here." _

_He stared back. Then he lowered his face and brought mine up. He pressed his lips to mine in a short, sweet kiss. One that said everything that words couldn't. I snuggled in and fell sleep to the calm breathing of my one true love._

"Marie?" Newt said, stepping away and shaking me lightly.

"Yeah?" I mumbled, not crying anymore but feeling worse.

Harriet came over and hugged me properly, stroking my hair like she did in the beginning, when it was just me, Sonya and her in the Maze.

"It's going to be fine, Mar," She said, rocking me slowly. "I understand."

My tears dried up just like that. Harriet didn't understand. No one does. It's not going to be fine.

"I don't think you do."

* * *

**Hey, this is Jaz-Lita! I'm a huge fan of Newt, and there isn't really much fanfics about him apart from him being gay, which I don't like at all. So, this is going to be from Marie, a girl from Group B, point of view. She and Newt had bonded in the Scorch, and so they are together. I think. This is basically the Death Cure at the base, with a whole lot of new feelings and situations in it. Now that I think about it, not really the Death Cure at all.**

**There's a little button down there for a review. I would really appreciate reviews, since they make me feel useful and helps motivate me get chapters up quicker! So review and have a cookie! (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Radioactive**

**Chapter 2**

"I wanted to get that out of the way," Rat Man said. "Mainly so I could tell you myself and _remind_ you that the whole point of this operation has been to build towards a cure. Most of you not immune are in the early stages of the Flare, and I have every confidence that you'll be taken care of before it goes too far. But the Trials required your participation."

You'll be taken care of. That sounds like they will be killed, not cured, before the infect everyone else. My heart constricted again. Newt took my hand, squeezing it tightly. I squeezed it back.

"And what if you don't figure things out?" Minho asked.

Rat Man didn't say anything. He walked over to the closest bed, then reached up and put a hand on a strange metallic device hanging from the ceiling. "This is something we're very proud of here—a feat of scientific and medical engineering. It's called a Retractor, and it will be performing this procedure. It'll be placed on your face—and I promise you'll still look just as pretty when everything is done. Small wires within the device will descend and enter your ear canals. From there they will remove the machinery in your brain. Our doctors and nurses will give you a sedative to calm your nerves and something to dull the discomfort." He paused to observe our facial expressions. I knew that mine was of complete disgust. "You will fall into a trance like state as the nerves repair themselves and your memories return, similar to what some of you went through during what you called the Changing back in the Maze. But not nearly as bad, I promise. Much of that was for the purpose of stimulating brain patterns. We have several more rooms like this one, and a whole team of doctors waiting to get started. Now, I'm sure you have a million questions, but most of them will be answered by your own memories, so I'm going to wait until after the procedure for any more Q and A." The Rat Man paused, then finished, "Give me just a few moments to make sure the medical teams are ready. You can take this time to make your decisions."

He made his way across the room, sneaking glances at us, the sound of his swishing pants evading the silence. Then he got out of the room, and everyone started talking. Teresa came over to Thomas, and Minho was right behind her.

"I don't trust these sticks," Sonya said, arriving after Minho. "But I'm going to do it."

I stared at her. "You're going to do it? You could die!"

Sonya shrugged. "I'll take the risk."

Minho ignored her and said to Thomas and Teresa: "You shanks know more and remember more than anybody else. Teresa, I've never made a secret of it—I don't like you. But I want to hear what you think anyway."

True that. No one has any memories except them, so they should know what's going on. The thing is, Teresa's always harping on about have WICKED are the good ones, blah blah blah, that I have a bad feeling that she's gonna do it.

"We should do it," Teresa said. I wasn't surprised. I knew she was do that. But Thomas looked crushed; I guess he still thought that maybe, maybe she would do what WICKED doesn't want her to do. "It feels like that right thing to me. We need our memories back so we can be smart about things. Decide what to do next."

"That's true. I'm going to do it too. The memories are too precious to pass up. We can't afford to blunder around and stick ourselves up." Harriet said.

My mind was trying to process everything. Was everyone that blind that they would actually _believe_ those sticks?

"Teresa, I know you're not stupid. But I also know you're in love with WICKED. I'm not sure what you're up to, but I'm not buying it." Thomas said. Agreed.

"Me neither." Minho clenched his fists. "They can manipulate us, play with our shuck brains, dude! How would we even know if they're giving us back our own memories or shoving new ones inside us?"

"That's true, but is we do get our memories back, then it would be even better! Even if they gave us fake ones, it should give us some more light on what's happening." said Sonya

Minho glared at Sonya and opened his mouth, but Harriet steered me away from the arguing Gladers and Sonya. I reluctantly let go of Newt's hand and gestured for him to join the conversation.

She put her hands on my shoulders and stared into my eyes. I stared back, my strange violet meeting her dark brown.

"I really think you should do it, Marie," She said.

"I really think you shouldn't do it, Harriet."

She ignored what I said. "Think about what could happen if this goes right! We could actually solve the stupid cure to the stick Flare."

"Think about what could happen if this goes wrong. We could die and go to waste."

She narrowed her eyes at me. I looked back calmly. I'm not doing this. I don't care if bloody WICKED is good, I'm not going let them mess with my brain.

"I think that boy has been a bad influence on you," Harriet said.

"Who, Newt?" My temper was bubbling up.

"Yes, him. He's not exactly the pinnacle of good behaviour- Marie, are you alright?"

I was trembling. Not from tears, but from anger. "Don't talk about Newt that way. You have no idea what we went though in the Scorch. You've never felt like you couldn't live without anyone. The only person from the Clearing who understands what I feel is Aris, because he loved Rachel and she died. You see him over there?" I pointed, and Aris was talking to Teresa. "He's dead. Inside I mean. Sure, he's happy and normal at times, if you look into his eyes, he's dead. Losing Rachel killed him, Harriet. Losing Newt will kill me. Do you want to kill me?"

She watched me carefully. I wondered if she knew that I was half dead already. The Flare kills not only the person, but the people who cares about that person.

"No. I don't." Harriet sighed. "You're growing up so fast. I keep on thinking about you as the eleven year old girl who needed protecting. Sorry."

I hugged my 'sister' and tried to put all of the feelings that I felt for her in the Maze into that. I thought she felt if because she put in an extra squeeze into the hug she she gave me back. I peeped at Newt and he was looking really serious and was talking to Thomas and Minho. I hoped that he wouldn't do it as well.

Then the Rat Man came in and me and Harriet let go. More people were piling into the room, and I gave my attention to them and what was going on. Everyone who'd joined them was dressed in a one-piece, somewhat loose-fitting green suit with WICKED written across the chest. It struck me suddenly how thoroughly every detail of this game— this experiment—had been thought out. Why name a good organisation WICKED? Maybe it was meant to provoke different reactions from each of us? I knew that I didn't trust them.

Each doctor, well I think they were doctors, took a place next to one of the beds. They fidgeted with the masks that hung from the ceiling.

"We've already assigned each of you a bed," Rat Man said, looking down at papers on a clipboard he'd brought back with him. "Those staying in this room are …" He rattled off a few names, including Sonya and Aris, but not Thomas or any of the Gladers. "If I didn't call your name, please follow me."

I waved at Sonya and Aris and Sonya smiled back. Aris didn't do anything except stare at the doctors. This was getting weird. It's too normal for this kind of situation. I didn't know what to do except go along with it. I followed Harriet out of the room and down another long, windowless hallway before stopping at another door, this one a pale yellow. Our guide read from his list again, and Frypan and Newt were in it this time.

Newt caught my eyes and winked before announcing: "I'm not doing it. You said we could choose and that's my bloody decision." He exchanged an angry glance with Thomas that said that he better do something or he'd go crazy. My blood ran cold. What are they planning?

"That's fine," Rat Man replied. "You'll change your mind soon enough. Stay with me until we've finished distributing everyone else."

"What about you, Frypan?" Thomas asked, his face twitching a bit.

Frypan suddenly looked sheepish. "I … think I'm going to let them do it."

I was shocked. He's gonna let WICKED mess with his brain?

"Are you crazy?" Minho asked. Frypan shook his head, bearing himself up a little defensively. "I want to remember. Make your own choice; let me make mine."

"Let's move along," Rat Man said. Frypan disappeared into the room, hurrying, probably to avoid any more arguments.

Rat Man didn't call for Minho, Teresa and Thomas until they were standing at the final door, along with Harriet, Rosa and Crystal. So far Newt had been the only one to say no to the procedure.

"No thanks," Minho said when Rat Man gestured for everyone to enter the room. "But I appreciate the invitation. You guys have a good time in there." He gave a mock wave.

"No way. I'm not going to do it." I said. Newt moved over to me and took my hand. Rat Man's eyes flickered between the two of us then down to our entwined hands.

"I'm not doing it, either," Thomas announced. I knew they would all say no. But I had a feeling that they were going to do something dangerous.

Rat Man stared at Thomas for a long time, his face unreadable. What a stalker.

"You okay, there, Mr. Rat Man?" Minho asked.

"My name is Assistant Director Janson," he replied, his voice low and strained, as if it was hard work to stay calm. His eyes never left Thomas. "Learn to show respect for your elders."

"You quit treating people like animals and maybe I'll consider it," Minho said. "And why are you goggling at Thomas?"

Janson finally turned his gaze to Minho. "Because there are many things to consider." He paused, straightening up to his full height. Even I was taller than him, and that's saying something. Newt's a whole head taller than me. "But very well. We said you could choose for yourselves, and we'll stand by that. Everyone come inside and we'll get things started with those willing to participate."

A chill ran through my body. Newt's breathing changed a bit, more quicker as if he was getting ready to run a lot. I knew that because I was a Sprinter myself.

I followed Harriet into the room. It looked exactly like the first one, with six beds, the hanging masks, all of it. The machine that looked like ran everything was already humming and chirping. A person dressed in the same green clothes as the doctors in the first room stood next to each bed. I looked around and froze. Standing next to a bed at the very end of the row, dressed in green, was Brenda. She looked way younger than everyone else, her brown hair and face cleaner than I had ever seen them back in the Scorch, but that wasn't really saying anything. She gave Thomas a quick shake of her head and shifted her gaze to Rat Man; then, before my eyes saw it, she was running across the room. She grabbed Thomas and pulled him into a hug.

"Brenda, what are you doing!" Janson yelled at her. "Get back to your post!" She pressed her lips against Thomas's ear and it looked like she was whispering something.

"Brenda!" the Rat Man practically screamed. She let go and stepped away.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I'm just glad to see he made it through Phase Three. I forgot myself." She walked back to her post and turned to face them once again, her face blank of emotion.

Janson scolded her. "We hardly have time for such things."

Why was Brenda working with WICKED? She certainly didn't act like a WICKED lover like Teresa did. Heck, she was the most outspoken one about how WICKED is wicked.

Newt nudged me with his elbow then nodded towards Thomas and Teresa. It looked like they were having a whispered argument.

"You alright?" Newt murmured.

_No._ "Yeah, fine."

Teresa stepped away from Thomas. Rat Man assigned Harriet a bed, and she hugged me again and said: "Be careful," then went to the bed. I watched, numb. Things weren't this bad in the Scorch. At least everyone weren't disappearing on me. This time, I wasn't sure if they were going to come back.

* * *

**Chapter 2 is done! Thank you for the 2 reviews that I got! :D I was really happy!**

**I WATCHED THE MAZE RUNNER YESTERDAY WITH MY FRIENDS AND IT WAS AWESOME! The Grievers were creepy and the Maze was AH-MAZE-ING! Basically I laughed how they pronounced Minho's name. Isn't it Min-ho not Meen-ho? I swear that the first time Newt said Minho that he said Mina! I cracked up over that. The number of time that they said sh** was funny too!**

**I cried when Chuck died D': Did anyone else cry? The feels in that scene were so strong!**

**Anyways, enough blabbering from me :D Please review!**


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